Does Boruto have enough manga material for a new season? The anime's future, explored

Modified May 16, 2024 18:03 GMT

Does Boruto have enough manga material for a new season? The anime — Boruto as seen in the Boruto anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

While it has been some time since the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime ended, fans are still looking forward to the series' return in the future. The series seemingly ended due to a lack of source material. Hence, realistically, the only way the anime would return is if it has sufficient source material.

Given that the anime ended in March 2023, it has been over a year since Studio Pierrot stopped animating the series. So, the series has definitely put out enough manga chapters for a new season. If that's the case, what can fans expect from a possible new season?

Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers from the Boruto manga.

Does Boruto anime have enough source material for a new season?

Kawaki as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Yes, Boruto anime has enough source material for a new season if Studio Pierrot goes along with its plans for seasonal anime.

As anime fans would know, Studio Pierrot is prominently known for its long-running anime series like Naruto, Bleach, Black Clover, and Boruto. However, as time passed, the Studio Pierrot executives realized that the anime industry demanded seasonal anime with high-quality animation rather than long-running anime. With that in mind, the animation studio established a new sub-studio called PIERROT FILMS.

Naruto as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

As per PIERROT FILMS' plans, the company is set to focus on seasonal anime with high-quality animation that can be delivered in a shorter period. With that, it can be confirmed that the company will be giving preference to the seasonal anime format over the long-running format. This is also evident from the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime which is being released in parts.

This is beneficial to the Boruto series and such a release pattern should allow PIERROT FILMS to produce a shorter anime season for the series.

Code as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

As evident from the comparison between the anime and manga, it is very clear that the anime series finished animating the manga somewhere around the start of chapter 68.

Given that the manga series itself only has 80 chapters, it means that Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga still has about 13 chapters to adapt. Considering that each chapter from the manga can be adapted into a standalone anime episode, it can be confirmed that the remaining source material from the manga series should be sufficient to animate a 12-13-episode anime.

So, yes, the Boruto anime does have enough source material for a new season.

Daemon as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

As for the Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga series, it is soon set to release its tenth chapter. With that chapter's release, there should essentially be enough source material in both manga combined to make a 23-episode anime season, which is the standard length in the industry.

However, the chance of PIERROT FILMS wanting to combine the story from both manga into a single anime season is next to none. Hence, fans can expect a single-cour anime season for the series in the future. That said, given that the animation studio is currently focusing on Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War and may focus on the new Naruto anime and Black Clover in the future, it may take some time before the studio gets around to the Masashi Kishimoto series.